Ulf Petri was a Green Beret with the Royal Swedish Coast Artillery and a Royal Swedish Navy attack diver (equivalent of Navy SEAL) platoon leader. He has extensive rock climbing, paddling and adventure racing experience. He’s done ascents of Cotopaxi and Pinchincha in Ecuador and Kebenkaise in Sweden. His longest non-stop paddle is 150 miles in 36 hours in a Klepper Aerius.

“Many people don’t know that I was one of the original Eco-Challenge participants,” Ulf likes to joke. “My team was so stealthy and so fast that no one actually saw us finish first.”

He had a more visible first-place solo and third-place overall finish in the Florida Coast to Coast Adventure Race. In 2004, his team RUOK took third place in the elite category. In 2005, his team E-Caps took second place in the elite category. He joined team TravelCountry.com and in 2007 raced and Michigan Coast to Coast and took fourth place, elite category, in the Florida Swamp Stomp.

A retired Viking, he is currently a software consultant. Or perhaps it’s the other way around.